DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Jimmie Johnson laughed when told that fans are accusing him of cheating because he wrecked his car during the celebration of his Daytona 500 victory Sunday.

“I can only imagine,” Johnson said Monday morning when asked if he knew about the comments.

The conspiracy theorists point to October 2010 audio of Johnson crew chief Chad Knaus telling Johnson to make sure the back of his car has hit something either during the race or afterward in order to make sure they pass inspection.

Knaus later said that because tolerances were so tight and there is so much bump drafting going on, he just wanted to make sure there was a mark on the car to show it had contact with something in case NASCAR officials questioned anything after the race.

Johnson cleared tech after the race Sunday, and Johnson said the damage to the car was more in the front end after he drove through the Daytona tri-oval grass to celebrate his victory.

“Luckily they don’t measure heights on the front of the car anymore,” Johnson said.

The five-time Cup champion swore he didn’t try to damage the car, saying that the celebration “just didn’t go as planned.”

“I just wanted to get a cool picture down on the Daytona emblem (in the grass),” Johnson said. “That’s every driver’s goal—to get on the emblem and do a burnout.

“I turned down and pulled it into second gear and thought I had the right angle to spin off into the grass. As I turned in, I guess the car rolling over (into the grass) allowed the right front to dig in. I knew instantly once it grabbed the dirt, I had a real problem.”

Apparently, he doesn’t have too much of a problem. He had a brief chat with NASCAR president Mike Helton on Monday morning.

“I just saw Helton,” Johnson said. “He wasn’t overly upset with me, so that was good.”